I USUALLY do, to my detriment and that of my Administration, allow the many attacks on the Regional Administration to go unabated by not sharing with the public the facts on those stories.

This is done for the main fact that the stories and accusation are so absurd and so devoid of truth and reasoning, that I did not see the need to respond.

However, it was brought to my attention that there are those who, like the Councillor, would have a difficulty with reasoning and rational and those that are gullible. Of course those few birds of a feather, like the Councillor, that finds pleasure in boosting their political egos by peddling innuendo and deception.

I refer to a headline appearing in the Stabroek News of Wednesday 7th January 2015, captioned ‘Region 8 machinery being misused for private work’.
Not only is this headline designed to be devious, misleading, disparaging and libellous to the Regional Executive Officer, the story also reeks of lies, deceit and fanciful notions. These aspersions are levelled by a well-known character that thrives on a pseudo crusade of being a representative of the people.
Regional Councillor, Mohamed Gafoor, is no stranger to illicit actions, deceptive and concocted stories for the press, or as he aptly admits and describes his actions as a cheap attempt at gaining political mileage.
This Regional Councillor was the same Councillor that shamelessly made the students of the Kato Primary School pose as if they were fetching logs, the same Councillor that incited an unlawful protest in the district, one day after being appraised of the road works which would have commenced a few days hence.
This protest saw the destruction of state assets, including the burning of a bridge. This Councillor is the same Councillor who went unlawfully into the Girl Dormitory of the Mahdia Secondary School at 02:30 hrs under the pretext of keeping a meeting with the girls. This was the Councillor that verbally assaulted the Regional Education Officer at a public forum. And the list continues. Surprisingly this Regional Councillor is the one that makes the least or should I say the most vacuous contribution to any Regional Democratic Council Meetings or such like.
I ventured to shed some light on the psyche of this Councillor to show, while some issues may need genuine attention, he is the first to add a political spin to it, without having or ever offering, or being capable of offering a solution to those issues, as his role as a Councillor befits of him.
The story, which was published, was so fallacious I often wonder what ever happened to fairness and balance. The Councillor asserts issues of roads, water and of course being ignored by the Regional Administration.
The indisputable facts are as follows:
The private residence referred by the Councillor, is the residence of the contracted Heavy Duty Mechanic and that of two contracted Machine operators. The Regional Administration does not have the requisite workforce for ‘in house’ operation and maintenance.
The photograph as submitted by the Councillor was taken in July of 2014. This was during the time the mini excavator, single bull dozer and truck were used to dig several ponds and springs in the community of Campbelltown, as requested by residents. The same machines were used to clear and excavate a spring at the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitory.
The machines became inoperable on separate occasions, and were unable to be moved to the Administration’s compound, thus were left for repairs at the residence of the heavy duty mechanic.
The machines were at no point engaged in any private work, especially carrying water for the REO’s office nor his residence. The machines, while operable, were engaged in work for the Campbelltown Village Council, which provided fuel and operators; the Mahdia and Princeville Roads as requested by commuters and vendors of the Arcade at Mahdia for the delivery of sand owed to them by the previous Administration.
The Truck and Excavator will be fully operable shortly, as major repairs were done in November and December 2014 to the assets.
The Regional Administration, residents along with myself, eagerly awaits the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), for the funding of two major projects which will see the construction of roads on Mahdia and the construction of a new water system. These projects are expected to commence shortly. Bill of Quantities for both projects were prepared by the Public Works Department and submitted. The Administration continues to pursue the MNRE.
This Councillor has never used his office, to engage the Regional Administration in any form to provide any proposals or suggestions whether orally or in writing or to pin point any issues of regional importance. I am happy that others still do.
While, I appreciate that the Councillor or any resident as a matter of fact, has a right to bring issues to the forefront, I would hope that is done in a factual and balanced way. Little or no mention was made by the Councillor about the $42M the Administration spent in 2014 on Roads in Region 8, or the hundreds of millions spent by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Ministry of Public Works and Communication to bring the Linden Mahdia route to the best state that it has ever been to date. Travel time has been significantly reduced.

No mention is made by the councillor, about the continued vandalism and destruction of our water supply system by rouge miners. Within the last ten days, repairs were done four times to the distribution line due to vandalism. The water network is used to propel jets that are used to mine the access roads in the area.

These are all issues that the Administration would like the Councillors to pay attention to and voice their concerns, but to no avail. Once the Regional Executive Officer’s name is not involved, the issue has no media or political merit or expediency to them. The concern and issues of the residents of Region 8 are then conveniently ignored.

RONALD HARSAWACK
Regional Executive Officer
Region 8 (Potaro/Siparuni)